Small Blessings
by triplechocolatte
Summary: When Francis' wife dies, she leaves him and their child to fend for themselves. In steps Antonio, who provides the two with a place to live, a school for Matthieu to go to, and possibly more.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

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><p>Matthieu looked up at his Father, Francis with his violet eyes.<p>

"Papa? Where are we going?" His voice came out a barely a whisper.

"We are going to be staying with Antonio, mon cher," Francis' blue eyes were obscured by his blonde hair as he drove.

"Where is mama?" Matthieu asked in his quiet voice.

"She's. . . gone Matthieu, that's why we are going to live with Antonio," His wife had died a few days before, and with Francis' small income, they wouldn't have been able to keep the house that they had been staying in. Instead of foreclosing on the house, Francis had been able to sell it. For the past few days, the two of them had been living in one of Francis' old colleagues' house, but he and Francis argued a lot, so Francis had called up one of his high school friends that he stayed in touch with and had managed to have been lucky enough that he had a large house and was willing to let them stay there.

"Antonio's nice I guess," Matthieu mumbled, snuggling into the plush polar bear that Francis' wife, Jeanne, had gotten him. Even at 14, he still carried around his stuffed animal, and he hadn't been without it in the past few days.

"Oui, he is," Francis could not agree more with his child

Francis pulled the small, beat up car into the driveway of a relatively large home, "We're here Matthieu."

"Wow," Matthieu stared at the large home in awe, his eyes lighting up.

"It is impressive, non? But Antonio must be waiting for us, let's go ring the doorbell, mon petit," He ushered the thin boy up to the door of the home, which was surprisingly painted red.

"Mi amigo! It's been so long!" Antonio greeted Francis with a hug before either of them had a chance to even touch the doorbell.

"Hello Antonio," Francis greeted, hugging him back softly.

"I'm sorry about what happened," Antonio's eyes softened, before catching sight of Matthieu who was hiding behind Francis. "And this must be Matthieu. Hello."

Matthieu stared at the man who said his name with an odd accent, this must be Antonio.

"H-hello," Matthieu mumbled before hiding his face in his polar bear.

Matthieu heard Antonio and Francis chuckle a bit.

"He's so cute," Antonio smiled softly at the boy, before pulling him into a small hug.

Matthieu immediately stiffened. Antonio was the first person other than his parents to have hugged him. But it felt. . . nice. Even though Antonio wasn't his mother, he still felt warm and inviting, though this was the first time Matthieu and Antonio had met.

Once Antonio felt Matthieu relax into his arms, he smiled up at Francis, "Come on in, I can show you where you'll be sleeping."


	2. Chapter 2

Antonio held the boy's hand as he walked though the halls of his house. He was a very successful farmer. Matthew had never seen such a wonderful house before. There were endless hallways and bedrooms. The house seemed daunting to his small frame.

Antonio glanced at Matthew and then at Francis. The similarities were definitely there. The only nuances were that Matthew's hair had an odd curl, and that his eyes were more purple than blue like his fathers'. He was almost a beautiful as his father, with his feminine figure that made him look ten instead of fourteen. Antonio couldn't deny that Francis was beautiful, he had indulged himself in a few fantasies, although his friend was married. Before Francis had gotten married, he used to sleep around, he had to admit. Antonio had resigned himself to a foul mouthed Italian to sedate his pain. The Italian had eventually gotten together with another friend of Antonio and Francis', a loud Prussian named Gilbert. Antonio was close to forgetting about Francis, when he heard about Jeanne.

It made him feel terrible, but he was glad that Francis was back in his life.

"Your rooms are right down here," Antonio lead the two down another hallway that was near where his own room was.

"Thank you Antonio," There was that charming smile Francis always gave the ladies back when they were in high school. This time there was a tired undertone to it, like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Papa, may I sleep with you tonight?" Matthew shyly looked up at his father, yawning. Matthew was so adorable, Antonio wasn't sure he had seen a cuter kid in his life.

"Of course, mon cher. Thank you for everything Antonio," Francis ushered the tired boy into the room.

"Good night Francis, Matthew."

"Good night Antonio."

"Good night Uncle Antonio."

Antonio walked back to his room, it was good to see Francis again after all this time. Maybe he could suppress the feelings from high school from coming back. He reached his room and felt the familiar flutter in his heart. He quickly opened the door, rushed inside, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Or maybe not.

A/N: Tell me what you think. I currently have no idea what I'm doing with this story. I'll see you all again next update!


	3. Chapter 3

Francis and Mattheiu slept soundly for the first time in weeks. The comfort of having a roof over their heads was enough to send them into sleep as soon as they hit the soft mattress.

Antonio, however, did not sleep.

The fantasies and fears of rejection fluttered through his head, keeping him up late into the night and providing him with only an hour of undisturbed sleep.

Until a large object came hurtling at the bed and landed on his sleeping form around sunrise.

"Oi, tomato bastard, get up. You're late, you need to get up or no tomatoes for you, tomato bastard," The large object threatened.

"Good morning to you too Romano," The boy Antonio had once dated, along with his boyfriend and his boyfriend's brother, worked on the farm helping Antonio with the crops and animals.

"Toni, the day's already up and we've been waiting for you to explain the two random people that the awesome me found sleeping in your guest bedroom while exploring earlier," And there was Romano's boyfriend, Gilbert, standing in the door way. His brother Ludwig was right behind him, trying to keep his rowdy older brother in line.

"Gil, do you remember Francis?" Antonio shoved Romano off of him and onto the floor, as a string of curse words left Romano's mouth, and started dressing for the day

"Oh yeah, wasn't he the guy that we were friends with and you kinda liked him as more than a friend?" Gil snickered.

"Francis' wife Jeanne died a couple weeks ago and he couldn't support him and his child, Mattheiu, so I offered them a place to stay here. And I only thought of Francis as a friend," Antonio finished getting dressed and the party moved downstairs.

"That's gutsy, letting the guy you used-to-have-a-crush-on-slash-have-a-crush-on stay at your house, don't even try to deny it, I saw the looks you gave him when you thought no one was looking in high school, but of course the awesome me saw all of them," Gilbert boasted.

"I never had a crush on him, ever," Antonio grabbed a piece of toast before turning to Ludwig, "Can you get Gilbert to help you feed and clean the horse's stalls? Romano, can you help me water the tomato plants?"

"Of course, changing the subject, the most common way to stop talking about something, you are most definitely in love with the guy," Gilbert's voice faded as he entered the barn.

"I could tell you were in love with him, that's why I broke up with you," Romano spoke after a few minutes of tense quiet, "I wonder if he knew."

"I hope he didn't," Antonio shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if Francis had known about his little crush in high school.

A/N: I started this story on a whim and am just going with what the characters want me to do. Where should a go with this. And I know that this chapter is kind of a filler, but it introduces more characters than the other chapters do. Sorry for not updating until now, I was really busy with being away from home for a couple of weeks and not having any motivation/ideas for this story. thanks for sticking with it so far! Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Francis and Matthieu stayed in their room for the most part, Matthieu sometimes working up the courage to wander outside to help some of the farmhands harvest or to play with them during their breaks. Francis stayed cooped up in his room, fighting depression and wondering where his life had gone. He sat for days, wallowing in self pity and slept curled up next to Matthieu, the only time he could sleep was with his last reminder of his late wife. His drank only when he absolutely needed and ate little of what Matthieu brought up to him to eat. His pity party continued until one morning when I knock on the door awoke both him and Matthieu.

"Amigo, Matthieu has to start school today and you need to get out of the house. How about I drive Matthieu to school and we go do something fun, my farmhands should be able to manage while I'm away," Antonio hadn't let his friend's sadness go unnoticed, and it pained him to see Francis wasting away when he had a son that looked up to him.

"I don't want to," Francis' rough morning voice mumbled as he rolled over, Matthieu quietly getting out of bed and getting dressed.

"Amigo, you have to do something. I won't let you waste your life. Yes, Jeanne is dead, but you are still alive, live the life she couldn't you have to move on. You can't change her death," Antonio reasoned, secretly hoping that Francis would move on to him.

"I know, but what if I could have! What if I was the one that killed her! I was the one that asked her to come home as soon as she could! It was her coming home as soon as she could that made her the car that the drunk ran into! I was the one that killed her," Francis screamed, cheeks dripping with tears, his raw emotions finally being let out. "Leave me alone Antonio."

"Alright hermano," Antonio stepped out into the hall where Matthieu waited, ready for school.

"He gets like that, I try telling him that it wasn't his fault that mom died, but he doesn't listen," Matthieu whispered as he followed Antonio to the kitchen for breakfast.

"He was always stubborn, but this time I think it's for the worst. You should try and get him to get out of his room and go outside, he seems to listen to you the best," Antonio prepared two bowls of cereal and sat down.

"I don't think that would be a great idea, he sometimes forgets I'm there, or thinks that I'm my mom and hold me, asking why I left him. He wouldn't leave unless his life depended on it," Matthieu stared at his shoes, remembering a time when he and his dad were happy. He finally joined Antonio at the table.

"Still, please try, I'll do my best to get him out of there but I can't do it alone," Antonio sighed and started to eat.

"I'll try," Matthieu started to eat and a heavy silence fell over the two of them.

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><p>AN: Sorry for abandoning you all! It's been a rough year and I didn't know quite where to go with this story. But I'm back now and I'm setting a goal to update once a month. You all should harass me if I don't update by feburary 31, which is my next due date.

I have an idea of where to go with this story now and I hope to continue it. Comments would be much appreciated and helpful. Thanks for reading and sticking with me!


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